Updates

November 1, 2017​Lots to cover in this update:- Voting for board members- Voting on proposed bylaw changes- More goods news about the turnaround at our co-op

We need everyone to vote in order to continue the good work that has been done in the last 11 months. None of this would have happened if we hadn't voted last year and we need to keep it going!

Board ElectionsThis year there are 6 open seats on our 9 person board and we're delighted that there are more than 6 good candidates running.

We've selected 6 people to endorse who we think can carry forward the good work that our current board has done, but we apologize to the other excellent candidates who we are unable to endorse for this election.

Here are the 6 people running for the board that we have endorsed:

Jerry Anaya (Staff)Mike Hildebrand (Staff)

David BaconJames GloverSusan MichieJessica Swan

As always, vote for whomever you think will best serve our co-op, but we hope you will seriously consider these six people.

Instructions for entering your member number and email address (or zip code) are on that page. You can also vote by paper ballot at any store.

Proposed Bylaw ChangesThere are 15 proposed changes to our bylaws. The bylaws of our co-op are the ultimate authority for how our co-op operates and we encourage everyone to read each proposed change carefully. Changing our bylaws is a big deal and not to be taken lightly.

We strongly encourage people to vote "No" on two of them and "Yes" on three of them.

No on #32.1 Remove the two week voting period. The voting period would be determined by the elections and nominations committee.

We might have been in favor of changing the two week voting period to something else, perhaps a week. But leaving it entirely open to the elections and nominations committee is too indefinite.

Yes on #5 2.3 Raising the number of staff who may serve on the board from "up to 2" to "up to 3" positions.

We think that having more staff on the board is a positive. It's something we have fought for from the beginning. This is a good step in that direction.

Our current board began doing that this year, but it's important that it be in our bylaws so future boards will be required to do it. We can't act as member-owners unless we have this information on a timely basis.

No on #112.7 Currently, the board may hire and fire, make policies for, and approve job descriptions of managers. The proposed change would replace "managers" with "direct reports to the Board."

An important part of our turnaround has been the board restructuring the organization, creating job descriptions, and working through personnel issues at our co-op. Although things are much better than 11 months ago, we want the board to continue to have authority that matches their responsibility. The co-op employee manual should follow the bylaws, not vice-versa.

Yes on #133.1 Elect board officers after the election of the new board members, not before.

Last year, the outgoing board tried to pre-elect officers before the newly elected board members were seated. This bylaw change ensures that officer elections occur after new board members are seated.

If you compare it to previous annual reports at La Montañita, you'll notice that there is far more information here than in the past. We applaud the board members and staff who put this together.

We'd like to draw your attention to the financial information.

In Fiscal Year 2016 we lost $391,000. In the first quarter of FY 2017 we lost $221,000. That's a total loss of $612,000 in just 5 quarters. It's an unprecedented loss in our co-op's history and one of several reasons why so many of us stepped up and got involved.

Contrast that with the second, third, and fourth quarters of FY 2017, once our new board was in place: we have made profits of $169,000, $294,000 and $406,000 respectively. That's a profit of $869,000 in 3 quarters.

From a LOSS of $612,000 in 5 quarters to a PROFIT of $869,000 in 3 quarters!

Huge kudos to the board for severing all ties with CDS Consulting, removing the GM that CDS Consulting helped hire, and restructuring the organization. Those three steps were key to this turnaround.

As some of you may recall, the Honest Weight co-op in Albany, NY had a million dollar turnaround in one year by making similar changes.

To all the co-ops out there who are following our story: it can be done! You can return your co-op to it's core values and principles and you can get it in much better shape financially.

As always, lots more to do at La Montañita. That's why we need to elect 6 more outstanding board members who will carry the baton forward and why we need to vote on the proposed bylaw changes.

Please encourage your friends, family, and neighbors who are La Montañita members to vote!

Lots to update everyone on! The board recently announced quarterly financial numbers for our co-op, and the candidate packets just came out for those who'd like to run for the board this fall.

Financial NewsLast year our co-op lost $390,000, the worst year in over a decade (maybe ever) for our co-op. It was one of the reasons we all worked so hard to take our co-op back. We knew that if this continued we could lose our co-op.

This past month our board released financial information by quarter for the 2017 fiscal year. Keep in mind that our co-op fiscal year runs September-August and our new board was seated in December. The numbers below are for our net income (profit/loss):

Q1 (September-November) -$221,000

New board seated in December

Q2 (December-February) +$169,000Q3 (March-May) +$294,000

So in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 our losses were $221,000. That would have averaged out to a yearly loss of over $800,000, which is double the amount we lost in fiscal year 2016.

Fortunately our new board stepped in and started making changes to turn things around. They addressed pricing and personnel issues and continued to make changes that showed up even more strongly in Q3. They also were careful with expenditures in order to pull our co-op out of the financial hole that had been dug the last several years. That meant limiting new hires and deferring some maintenance expenses. In other words, the last two quarters have been very good from a profit/loss standpoint, but some of that "profit" will need to go into hiring and reinvesting in the co-op.

Still, it's a pretty amazing turnaround and it mirrors what happened at Honest Weight, the co-op in Albany, NY that was a guiding light for us as we worked to take back our co-op. Just like us they severed all ties with CDS Consulting and removed the leadership team that CDS Consulting had helped install, and in one year they went from missing loan payments and being in real financial trouble to making very good profits and regaining their fiscal health and stability.

Kudos to our board, to the leadership team they have put in place this year and to everyone who works at our co-op. The belt tightening necessary to get us out of the financial hole we were in means that many people working in our stores and at the support office have been working extra hours and doing more with less. We greatly appreciate all of the efforts they have put in and it's great to see it showing up on the bottom line.

Please keep in mind that there is seasonality to our business (holidays and discount months affect our quarterly numbers), and other grocery stores closing and opening (not to mention mass transit construction in ABQ) will continue to affect our stores. In other words, don't expect a perfectly straight upward trajectory every quarter in our net income, but it looks we're starting to return to a more healthy baseline for our business.

Financial TransparencyOne of our concerns last year was that there are 17,000 of us who co-own our co-op yet we had been given very little information about the state of the business. How can we be responsible owners if we don't know what's going on?

Our board just took a major step to address this. Any co-op member-owner can now go to the ABQ support office (901 Menaul Blvd. NE)or the Santa Fe store and ask to look at the quarterly financial numbers for our co-op. These will continue to be updated after each quarter.

The board has tried to strike a balance between sharing enough information with member-owners and not sharing information that is so detailed that it gives our competitors an advantage. So please take a look and become better informed about the business we co-own, but keep that information within our co-op owner community.

I asked for permission to share the quarterly net income numbers (see above), which others can share as well, but any information beyond that is not to be shared publicly.

Board CandidatesElections for the board will be coming up again in November and the candidate application packet is now available here.

It's due by August 31st.

We need good folks to step forward and run for the board - that is the only way that co-ops work.

We especially need candidates who can offer these three things:

1) Time to dedicate to the job. Our current board has done an amazing amount of work to lay the foundation, but there is still much more to do. That means being able to make board meetings, committee meetings and to put in the time to understand our business and make significant contributions to improving it.

2) Values and principles that align with the co-op and our co-op member-owner community. An emphasis on local and organic food. Protecting and caring for the environment from the land to our stores. A dedication to the fair and ethical treatment of workers at our co-op, and at the distributors, farmers, ranchers and producers we work with.. A commitment to honesty and engagement with the broader co-op member-owner community.

It's okay if you don't have retail or grocery store experience, if you're willing to learn. The key is that you have time, co-op values and principles, and skills and experience to offer.

If you're thinking of applying, please email us and let us know. We're also happy to answer questions if you're unsure.

That's it for now, but we'll continue to update you later in the year. If you'd like to get more involved, please attend a board or committee meeting. You can always see the upcoming opportunities here.

A lot of the work being done to shape the future of our co-op is happening in the committees. Please come to a committee meeting and join in this process. They're always happy to have new member-owners come and participate.

Thanks,Django & Dorothy

February 13, 2017Change in Leadership and StructureYou may have seen the email that our Board sent out to member-owners on Friday (if not, you can read it at the end of this post). The Board made a couple of changes to address personnel and structural issues:

- First, they restructured the organization at the top so that there is no longer a single General Manager. Instead there are now two senior officers, a Cooperative Retail Officer in charge of our stores and distribution center, and a Cooperative Operations & Support Officer who will oversee the other support departments (IT, HR, Marketing, Finance, etc.). Both officers will report directly to the Board.

This restructuring means the elimination of the GM position, the Operations Manager position, and the Category Manager positions (the latter were new positions created a year ago). That means that Dennis Hanley (who was the GM) and the two people he brought in from Sprouts are now gone. It sounds like these positions were providing little in the way of value and eliminating them will be a significant cost savings.

- Second, they announced that Will Prokopiak will be the Interim Cooperative Retail Officer. Will has been the store leader for our largest store (Santa Fe) for the past 11 years and has been with the Co-op for 26 years (he worked at the Nob Hill store previously).

Will knows both the operations and the people sides of our business. He understands the problems of the last year and the problems that existed before that. I think he'll be a big help in moving things forward and improving the way we do business and the way we treat workers and member-owners.

Here is the email that was sent out:"Dear Team Members and Member-Owners:

La Montañita Co-op is undergoing re-organization effective February 9. This is a strategic decision to ensure the viability and survivability of the Co-op after the over $390K loss in FY2016. We are streamlining the operations, increasing efficiency and decreasing cost. So, what will we look like??? The General Manager, Operations Director and Merchandizing Category Manager positions are being eliminated, and there will be two new Divisions: Cooperative Retail Division and Cooperative Support and Operations Division. The Officers leading these divisions report directly to the Board of Directors. The Store Team Leaders and CDC Director will report directly to the Cooperative Retail Officer. All other supporting functions will report to the Cooperative Operations & Support Officer.

We are thrilled to share that Will Prokopiak will serve in the newly crafted position as Interim Cooperative Retail Officer (CRO). We will work very closely with him over the next four months. Will is a phenomenal contributor and provides deep expertise as it relates to retail, operations and initiatives across all levels of our Co-op. Will has been with the Co-op since 1990 and a Store Team Leader in Santa Fe for 11 years. We are proud to be promoting such an extraordinary person, who has shown tremendous loyalty to LMC, love for New Mexico and steadfast commitment to cooperative values. We are still deciding on the right person to lead as the Interim Cooperative Operations & Support Officer (COSO). Until such time, the Directors of IT, Marketing, Finance and Membership will report directly to the Board.

Our Co-op has an annual revenue exceeding $40M, and this re-organization puts us on the path to a sound financial position powered by an unparalleled community of over 16,000 member-owners and dedicated team members. There are multiple events and forums and a variety of ways for you, as member-owners, to get more involved in the many dimensions of the Co-op. We are protectors of the soil and waterways capable of contributing to New Mexico's food systems and local economies in new and profound ways. These are unprecedented times, and our cooperative is a people-powered institution that thrives on member engagement, transparency and democracy.

New Board Members and OfficersOn Tuesday night, the board appointed three new board members:Allena Satpathi, Andy Andreasen, and Jerry Anaya.

Allena works for Sandia Labs as a systems engineer and auditor. She is a founder of Climate Change New Mexico and her daughter has been raised on local and organic food from the Co-op. Andy has experience in technology and finance and is now retired. He and his wife are doing small-scale organic farming and he is a dedicated environmentalist. Jerry has worked at the Co-op for 11 years (currently at the Nob Hill store in the produce department) and is a strong advocate for worker rights. He comes from a family of ranchers and farmers.

All appointments and officer elections were unanimous. It was great to see our new board working well together. Although the challenges our Co-op faces are substantial, we have confidence that we now have a board with the experience, skills, and values we need to turn things around.

I know everyone has been anxious to see the new board take action to fix things at our Co-op. Now that they have officers and a full board they can begin to move forward.

Women's MarchI promise not to delve too often into topics beyond our Co-op in these updates, but my partner, Dorothy, and I marched in Santa Fe on Saturday at the Women's March and we were struck by some parallels to our TBTC experience this past year.

It was windy and snowing at times, but over 10,000 people were out marching. Far more than the several hundred people they had expected. The passion and the humor of our fellow marchers was truly uplifting. I think many of us approached the last few days with a sense of dread, but it felt good to be out with others showing our solidarity and to see the different generations marching together. We felt hope.

After the march, it was refreshing to hear our Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem state strongly that our city will not stand for the oppression of any of our people. They championed the values we share and they said it proudly and loudly.

We hope that our Co-op will now reflect our values (local and organic products, worker rights, transparency and democratic member control) and do so proudly. As scary as the national political scene is, we have to protect our local institutions like the Co-op. Many of the things we're concerned will get worse in the next four years (corporatization, corruption, and environmental degradation) are the very things that our Co-op can be a bulwark against. But only if we care for it and protect it.

I guess sometimes things have to get really bad before enough of us are willing to do the work to make things better. I'm certainly guilty of that. And as much as I enjoyed the march on Saturday, we need to find progressive candidates and get out the vote in 2018. Just like at our Co-op, it's hard to change things unless we elect people who represent us.

Thank you for being supportive and involved during these past 9 months. There is much more to come: more updates, more progress, and more ways to be involved.

Django

​

January 10, 20173 Board Member Spots Open, Board Meeting January 17th

3 Board Member Spots OpenTracy Sprouls, Tammy Parker, and Lisa Banwarth-Kuhn have stepped down from the board. All three are holdover members of the board from the previous year, not the newly elected board members who were just voted in.

Something very similar happened at the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, NY last year. They went through some of the same issues (financial losses, concerning changes to the values of the Co-op, an unresponsive board, a lack of transparency) and within 6 weeks of electing new people to their board, the holdover board members stepped down.

We need strong board member candidates to apply. If you're interested, you can fill out the Candidate Appointment Package and send it in by Noon this Saturday (January 14) to be considered.

The board will appoint the new board members and they will be seated at our next board meeting which is Tuesday, January 17th.

I think that we especially need board members who have business experience. Our Co-op is a $40 million dollar business and we need people on the board who have experience with finance, personnel, technology, marketing, etc.

Board Meeting January 17thIt made a big difference that so many people showed up at the last board meeting. I hope many of you will come join us this next Tuesday, January 17th at 6:15 pm for our next board meeting.

It will be held at:Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Chaco III Room (enter from south side of building)2401 12th Street NWAlbuquerque(Southwest of the intersection of 12th and Menaul)

Thanks,Django

December 21, 2016Board Meeting, What it takes to fix our Co-op

Board MeetingOur four new board members (Chad Jones, Gina Dennis, Marissa Joe, and Elise Wheeler) were seated on the board last night. A major step forward!

One of the first orders of business was a consent agenda item that was created by the outgoing board President, Ariana Marchello. She attempted to pre-select the officers for our board and to get that passed by placing it on the consent agenda (which is supposed to be for non-controversial items like approving the minutes of the meeting).

Fortunately, Gina Dennis spoke up and asked that the item be moved to the regular agenda. To the board's credit, this was passed after some discussion. Then on the regular agenda Gina moved to amend the item so that actual nominations and a vote would occur for officers. This was also passed after some discussion.

Finally, we had nominations for board officers followed by a vote, and it happened at the Board Meeting, not behind closed doors. Here are the results:

PresidentElise Wheeler - 4 votesTammy Parker - 4 votes

Vice PresidentGreg Gould - 8 votes

TreasurerJames Esqueda - 4 votesChad Jones - 4 votes

SecretaryGina Dennis - 4 votesLisa Banwarth-Kuhn - 4 votes

The board agreed to take up the officer vote again at the next board meeting in January, therefore Greg Gould is the only current officer of our board. Greg is the only one of the non-newly elected board members who has met with us to talk, so far. We didn't agree on everything but our conversation was productive and positive.

​What it takes to fix our Co-opIt isn't fun trying to help an organization or people while some of them are yelling at you that you're trying to hurt them. Last night we had a packed room, people were spilling out into the hallway and the majority were very supportive of our efforts. However, there were probably a good 15-20 people who were quite angry and directed that anger at us. I had several people come up to me personally and tell me that we are destroying the Co-op, etc. I don't think that any of those people want the Co-op to fail, not at all. But I wish they would direct their frustration at the decisions and people who have put us in this situation. The people pointing out the problems aren't the problem.

We are 16,000 member-owners and we run a business together. From 2008-2013 we made a profit of $650,000 a year (on average). In fiscal year 2016 (which ended August 31st), we lost $308,000. From a profit of $650K to a loss of $308K is about a million dollar difference per year.

By our estimates we are losing $600K a year on our Westside store, and based on discussions with senior folks at our Co-op, we probably have $300K we are paying in excess executive pay (paying too much for some folks and paying for some new positions that are unnecessary). That adds up to $900K or 90% of our million dollar difference.

We realize that if the Co-op were to close the Westside store it wouldn't immediately erase the $600K annual loss (because we have a lease, equipment we have purchased, etc.), but it is a significant source of our financial problems.

But there is a bigger cultural and systemic issue that has plagued our Co-op for years and only came to a head now: we had a culture where a few people on the board and a few senior staff expected that they would never be criticized or held accountable. We were supposed to trust them blindly and not speak or act as the member-owners we are.

For some people, the gravest threat to our Co-op is that we have dared to criticize the decisions of our Co-op leadership. They're more concerned about that than our dwindling cash reserves, the mounting losses, or the financial and operational decisions that got us here. It seems like the #1 rule at our Co-op was: don't ever criticize the people at the top or you will face their wrath.

Well, our Co-op can't be fixed if we can't have substantive discussions as member-owners and workers about the problems in our business. It simply isn't possible.

Last night we took a step toward having these substantive discussions. Toward a culture which is more transparent, where a few people at the top don't make decisions behind closed doors. Where we openly discuss what is wrong at our Co-op and how to fix it and we don't bury our head in the sand and hope it will magically turn around.

And to the workers at our Co-op: I'm sorry it took us so long to get organized and get engaged. You deserve better leadership and better member-owners. We're going to work hard to build that at our Co-op.

1) "Clean 15" removedThe "Clean 15" conventional produce, which is grown with pesticides and is actually just as dirty as other conventional produce, is being removed from our stores.

The reason given for this change is that the "Clean 15" produce was unprofitable.

2) Veritable Vegetable backOur 20+ year relationship with Veritable Vegetable is being restored. This week we will begin receiving direct produce shipments from VV instead of from the Robinson trucking corporation. That means an increase in the quality of our produce and that we will once again be supporting a woman-owned small business with excellent values (5-1 pay ratio, award winning fleet of near zero emissions vehicles, 99% of all waste is diverted from landfills, and more).

The reason given for this change is that it is actually MORE expensive to purchase from Robinson than directly from VV, and that purchasing from Robinson was inefficient and caused problems.

In other words, the changes made by our current General Manager, which were supposed to save us money, proved to be a significant mistake. It has cost us money, damaged our reputation, and angered many long-time member-owners.

We want to thank the staff who did their own investigation of the costs, confronted the GM, and forced him to make these changes. Workers and Take Back the Co-op have been shining a spotlight on the problems with the "Clean 15" and Robinson for months. We've been told that our efforts were a factor in staff deciding to investigate these two issues. Kudos to all of you!

This also reemphasizes that the official "facts" coming from our Co-op this year have been anything but factual. Many times we were told that the "Clean 15" were "selling like hotcakes" and "sales are brisk." Meanwhile, people working in the stores reported that sales of the "Clean 15" produce were slow and that they were throwing away large amounts of conventional produce and creating more food waste than they had seen in decades of working at the Co-op.

We're really glad to hear that the "Clean" 15 is leaving our stores, but please keep in mind that this was the tip of the iceberg. It's what first got our attention, but it led us to uncover the financial mismanagement and deception, the union busting and retaliation, the culture of fear and intimidation, the policy governance/one voice/code of conduct "gag order" model, the influence of CDS Consulting, the rising executive pay while entry level workers make pennies over minimum wage, and that we as member-owners weren't really in charge of our Co-op.

The "Clean" 15 was our wake-up call, but our work to truly Take Back the Co-op is just beginning.

Board Meeting Dec. 20thOur four new board members will be seated at the board meeting next Tuesday, December 20th.

Many of us will be there to celebrate this important step forward. And, we also all want to witness the seating of our new board members to make sure that the process goes smoothly. Please join us:

La Montañita Co-op Board of Directors MeetingTuesday, December 20, 2016 at 6:45pmIndian Pueblo Cultural Center, Chaco III Room (enter from south side of building)2401 12th Street NWAlbuquerque, New Mexico 87104(Southwest of the intersection of 12th and Menaul)

We'll have more updates after the board meeting!

November 22, 2016Three StepsHere are the three main steps for taking back our Co-op. We just completed the first step.

1) Win seats on the board through the regular election

2) Communicate with the remaining board members to see if we have shared values (worker rights; local, organic, and sustainable food; transparency and democratic member control)

3) Hold a Special Membership Meeting to remove board members who do not share the values of our platform or who are unwilling to make the necessary changes to put those values into action

The first step was a resounding success. Thank you to everyone who voted!

For the second step, we are going to reach out to the remaining five board members between now and the board meeting on December 20th. As you may know, we have made many attempts to talk with them throughout the year. However, we think it's important that we make one more attempt. Keep in mind they have been hearing a very filtered view of things for months and even years.

We have seen Gina Dennis go from publicly voicing concerns about Take Back the Co-op to becoming a strong advocate for Take Back the Co-op. The difference was that she spoke with us and talked with many other people and did her own research. It may be that some of the other five board members also share the values of our platform and are ready to act.

After that, we will proceed with the third step by submitting the petition and setting up the Special Membership Meeting.

That means that our new La Montañita board members will be Gina Dennis, Marissa Joe, Chad Jones, and Elise Wheeler! All four were endorsed by Take Back the Co-op and all four will be strong advocates for our platform going forward.

They will be seated at the December 20th Board Meeting.

If you add up all the votes and divide them by four (since we could each vote for four candidates) it looks like 1,671 member-owners voted. In 2015 less than 300 voted. So we had a voter turnout that is over 5 times greater than last year!​

November 16, 2o16Preliminary Election Results!Voting ended Monday and we now have the results from online voting and the paper ballots that have been received. We heard last night at the Board meeting that there are 200-300 more paper ballots that may come in. Final results will be posted next week.

Remember, there are four open seats on our Board, so the four highest vote getters will win those seats. The four candidates we encouraged our supporters to vote for were Gina, Marissa, Chad, and Elise. Here are the results so far:

It looks likely that all four open seats will be won by Take Back the Co-op endorsed candidates.

Kudos to the many TBTC supporters who voted - we really got out the vote and that makes all the difference.

And let's hear it for our member-owner community as a whole. Last year only about 300 people voted and this year we've already had over 1,300 people vote. That appears to be a record voter turnout for our Co-op!

November 8, 2016They handed out the Annual Report at the Annual Membership Meeting on Oct. 22nd. For some reason it isn't up on the La Montañita website yet.

Notice the Net Income numbers (that's our profit or loss for the year):2013 $766,4842014 $231,3012015 $98,3072016 -$308,276​One more reason we need to take back our co-op and fast!

November 1, 2016Voting in the regular election begins today!

Today the regular election starts for our Co-op board (it ends November 14th). There are four open seats out of nine. Electing Take Back the Co-op candidates is an important first step in reclaiming our board and taking back our Co-op.

Our goal is to elect four Take Back the Co-op candidates through the regular election, then to elect the remaining TBTC endorsed candidates during the Special Membership Meeting.

Here are the four candidates we suggest voting for now in the regular election:

- Marissa Joe- Chad Jones- Elise Wheeler- Gina Dennis

Voting takes less than 30 seconds. All you need is your member number and email or zip code. Vote here.

You are, of course, free to vote for whomever you wish, but we hope that you will strongly consider voting for these four. We don't want to split the votes among our eight Take Back the Co-op endorsed candidates and win fewer seats as a result.

You can read the candidate statements for all our endorsed candidates here.

November 1, 2016A new Inside the Co-op piece by current board member, Gina Dennis:

"I joined our La Montañita Co-op Board in May, 2016. I quickly learned that our Board uses the Policy Governance model. I have studied the policies created by our Board; I have updated policies and written proposals that have been voted on by our Board; and I’ve observed how this Policy Governance model affects our Board, its decisions, and the Co-op as a whole. I began my time on the Board optimistic and excited to work within Policy Governance. However, I now have serious concerns.

Because of Policy Governance, the Board is forbidden from being involved in operations and almost everything is defined as “operations.” That means, the Board is banned from overseeing management. This puts the Board in a vulnerable position whereby the Board becomes completely dependent upon the GM for actions and answers about operations. The Board has almost zero authority to investigate and evaluate the validity or veracity of the information coming from the GM.

Furthermore, because of Policy Governance, the Board is banned from directly and effectively answering questions that the Membership raises during Board meetings. This leaves the Membership with many unanswered questions and countless unaddressed and unresolved issues. Thus, the Policy Governance model “blinds” the Board and “silences” the Membership.

In September, I began my own research into the concerns being raised at our Co-op. Due to the restrictions imposed by Policy Governance upon Board members, I met with fellow Member-Owners solely in my capacity as a Member- Owner. Those Member-Owners helped me understand far more about the daily operations at the Co-op and at each store. It broke my heart to hear about the fear that workers are experiencing, the disrupted relationships with women- owned businesses, the lack of real commitment for organic, local produce, and the lack of effort to “green” our stores. I have so much gratitude for the Member-Owners who came to me and helped me understand that we need to remove an intruding corporate culture.

I support Take Back the Co-op (TBTC). My reasoning for supporting TBTC revolves around Doing the Best Thing That Creates The Most Good:

1) Transparency and Democratic Member ControlThe current form of Policy Governance is impractical. We cannot have a governance model that “blinds” the Board and “silences” the Membership.

We must replace Policy Governance with a transparent, democratic form of leadership. I also embrace the use of “term limits” so that far more member-owners can have the opportunity to serve on the Board in the future. We also need to allow member-owners to vote on major changes several times each year.

2) Worker Rights and PayWe must protect our workers. Unions are a good thing. We need to ensure that we stop infringing upon the Constitutional Right to Organize. We need to ensure that workers are protected now and in perpetuity. We must also pay our workers more. Our workers and our value chain deserve fair wages.

3) Healthy, Organic, Local Pesticide-free ProduceWe are what we consume. Organic food is a vital component for our Co-op. We must increase our organic, pesticide-free produce. We need to increase our local food. We must support our local farmers and our local farms.

4) Healthy, Green StoresWe must stop using high-VOC paints, coatings, adhesives, and sealants. It is counter-intuitive for the Co-op to buy organic food and then put it inside of a store that has polluted indoor air. We must “green” our stores.

These are all basic values for many co-ops. These are not unusual or new ideas. In fact, these are common values that have been in our community for decades. Somehow, along the way, as the La Montañita Co-op grew, people forgot our value system. Sometimes people need to be reminded of where they came from and how they got here. Right now, we must remind the Co-op of these basic values. TBTC supports these values and that’s why I support TBTC.

Now it is time to Do the Best Thing That Creates The Most Good."

Gina Dennis, current La Montañita Board of Directors member

October 18, 2016We surpassed our goal of 1,700 signatures to the petition!

We are now in the process of verifying signatures and will be submitting the petition shortly. We'll let everyone know when that happens and when the Special Membership Meeting is scheduled. It'll probably be sometime in mid-late November.

Please continue to Sign The Petition (if you haven't already) and share it with others. It's always good to have more signatures.

In the meantime, the regular board election is happening November 1-14. We'll have updates here as that gets closer. Please check out our seven Take Back the Co-op endorsed candidates who will be on the ballot for the regular election.

October 10, 2016New Inside the Co-op: National post from the entire board of the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, NY to La Montañita member-owners:

"Greetings to Member-Owners of La Montañita Co-op, New Mexico, from the Member-Owners and Board Members of the Honest Weight Food Co-op, Albany, New York.

We celebrate your bold effort to take back your co-op, and we applaud your many efforts to reach out to other food co-ops nationwide to inform and support their struggles. We know you can succeed in taking back your co-op, because we took ours back.

Just a year ago our co-op found itself in what seemed like an impossible situation. A series of decisions had been made that a majority of our Membership could not support and that were not supportive of our Membership. In particular, these decisions would have caused our Membership to lose our decision making authority. We found ourselves petitioning for a Special Membership Meeting to recall the Board.

We had our Special Membership Meeting! We voted to recommend a change in our management structure. We approved a recommendation to evaluate and remedy concerns about our leadership team. We seated new members on our Board of Directors. At that time we did not fully understand our financial status, which we have learned also needed a turnaround.

Fortunately, we were successful in creating change. We have implemented a new leadership structure and hired new managers. Our Member-Owners have started an independent online newsletter, the Co-op Voice, which gives us back the direct voice we lost several years ago. We have had three strong financial quarters, and our financial picture is improving.

The Member-Owners and Board Members of Honest Weight Food Co-op respect you and the quality of the groundwork you have done. May your Special Membership Meeting be well attended, be peaceful, and above all, be successful in creating the changes that you will need to fully regain decision authority.

To honor our past, for the promise of our future, and true to our Mission Statement, we took action to exercise our rights and responsibilities as Member-Owners of Honest Weight Food Coop. We wish you great success.

October 3, 2016New Inside the Co-op post, from a La Montañita worker.​Worker 12: "On September 19, 2016 we were introduced to the new store manager of Nob Hill. Like the other upper managers our GM has brought in, this new store manager came from Sprouts in Texas. He proudly mentioned his previous employers were Target and McDonald’s.During our staff meeting on his first day, he shared his expectations with regards to customer service. "If a customer comes to our store looking for strawberries and we are out of strawberries, I will do whatever it takes to make sure they leave our store with strawberries. I will go buy strawberries at Walmart and sell them to our customer, so they leave here with strawberries."We have a store manager who has no problem spending Co-op dollars at Walmart.So why is he La Montañita’s newest store manager? Upper management said that they had no internal candidates or qualified local candidates for this position. It’s hard for me to believe that one of the top co-ops in the country can’t find a store manager with co-op experience.He told us that when he is talking to us, we are to look directly at him and make eye contact as a form of respect. A lot of people are just saying “yes, sir.” His approach is antithetical to our Co-op.This is the latest disheartening episode in the last nine months at the Nob Hill store. The crew is skeletal and stretched thin and there has been a hiring freeze. Being in a constant state of anxiety, fear, intimidation, and exhaustion is no way to work, or live. Many of us are looking for other jobs.Witnessing what takes place internally weighs heavy on my heart. I chose to work at our Co-op because I believe in improving lives: through education, community involvement, and the products we represent.This management team is not good at connecting, building trust, building relationships, or building community. They are good at creating separation, confusion, tension, disempowerment, and fear.I think La Montañita is a wonderful establishment. I don't like seeing people treated poorly or intimidated and I want the employees that work the front lines to be okay. I keep hearing about individuals getting fired and it is deeply upsetting. These are good people. They are discarded as if they don't matter, or they are punished for speaking out."

Since we launched this website on September 2, 2016 we have heard fromco-ops across the country. Workers, managers, board members, and member-owners from 15 different co-ops in 12 different states have contacted us to share their concerns about what is happening at their co-ops.

Click on our new Inside the Co-op: National section to read the most recent posts from Oregon and Minnesota. Below are some excerpts:

"...six Eastside Food Co-op board members resigned because they disagreed with the plan and felt it was wrong to keep it hidden from member-owners. Due to the 'One Voice' policy and the nondisclosure agreement they had been told to sign, they had no way of sharing their opinion. They were silenced...

The current board and a paid outside consultant held 'listening sessions' to attempt to soothe the membership...

The meeting was supposed to be a Q&A, but they refused to answer questions. Instead, they wrote them down and said they’d answer later on a website. They hushed any other viewpoints, saying they had 'run out of time.' The meeting was a sham of cooperative values; it mirrored corporate culture."

"The influence of CDS Consulting on our board is so ubiquitous that at first I didn't really give it much thought. CDS teaches the Co-op 101 class. They have a library of articles that we read from every month. When questions arise we go to CDS consultants for the answers. We even have a former board President turned CDS consultant, who is now back on the board by appointment. It really is difficult for a new board member to know where CDS’s influence begins and ends...

The board is now all too comfortable operating in private, executive sessions. During this period, the board also enforced a 'Code of Conduct' for board members that was used to discourage dissent."

Seth Erling, former board VP, Eastside Food Co-op, Minneapolis, MN

"...we started having problems at our Co-op in 2008, after we expanded to a second location where three health food stores had failed previously. The GM decided to sell Coca-Cola, Doritos, and Snickers bars at the new location...

...while we were struggling financially and losing money each year, we did an expensive remodel of our original store...

All of this happened while our board was being advised and trained by CDS Consulting...

In January 2015, two people flew in to calm the 'angry mob.' Those two people were C.E. Pugh, the COO of NCG, and Peg Nolan, a CDS consultant. They gave a presentation about 'the New Normal' and assurances that NCG would intervene and offer assistance. They told us that our board was inexperienced and needed help. It left some of our member-owners satisfied and it seemed we were in good hands. We were wrong.

A few months later, Peg Nolan became our GM (while she was still a CDS consultant)."

September 29, 2016Silencing DissentWe have no problem with the board or GM expressing themselves. We think that dialogue and debate are a healthy part of any Co-op. However, the GM doesn't seem to share that value. These are some of the things that have happened in the past week:

- Workers have been asked to sign a document which states they will not offer their opinion on Take Back the Co-op if asked about it by a customer in the store. Meanwhile, a worker is being paid to be at a table at the front of the store and hand out a letter from the GM that attempts to counter Take Back the Co-op.

- Workers' personal Facebook pages are being monitored and they are told they cannot post about Take Back the Co-op.

- We made a request to a have a table in front of our stores, so that we could talk with member-owners. They denied our request, stating that petitioning groups are not allowed to table. However, many groups have petitioned in front of our stores in the past.

- We asked that an email be sent to the membership to inform member-owners about our petition and website. They refused. They have now mailed a letter (at our expense) from the GM to member-owners.

- We asked for financial information broken down by the store and month so that we can accurately assess the performance of our stores. They refused.

It's extremely concerning that when there is disagreement within our community the response is to try to shut it down and to shut down access to information. As you can imagine, many of our workers are very upset about this.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the most important part of the Take Back the Co-op platform is transparency. With transparency almost none of the problems at our Co-op could have happened, without it we have almost no chance of fixing them.

As a reminder, please be kind to the people working in our stores. They are under tremendous pressure right now.

September 25, 2016Take Back the Co-op Community Q&A SessionsTake Back the Co-op will be hosting Community Q&A sessions next week. You'll have a chance to ask about Take Back the Co-op, the website, the platform, etc. You can also meet some of the TBTC-endorsed candidates for the board.

Many of us have been frustrated by our current board's unwillingness to answer questions or share information at board meetings. We want to model the kind of transparency and open dialogue that we think is at the heart of a healthy co-op community.

We welcome folks who support TBTC, those who are on the fence, and those who disagree with our platform.

September 21, 2016A response to misinformation that has been circulating recently:

- We have never demanded that the Westside location be closed. We believe that closing or opening a store should be voted on by informed member-owners. (See FAQ #14 below.)

- We're not a gang of outsiders. (See FAQ #13 below.)

We are endorsing four candidates for the board who have worked in the stores or are currently working in the stores. One of our endorsed candidates is a lifetime member and belonged to the Osha Co-op in the 70s, which preceded La Montañita.

Take Back the Co-op is comprised of people who were recently hired and people who have been with our co-op for decades. We are cashiers, managers, produce workers, distribution center employees, and senior staff. Many of the people who have been most involved in Take Back the Co-op have been member-owners for 20+ years. We have sought input from former board members whose time on the board ranges from the beginning of our Co-op to the last two years. We deeply love La Montañita and we want to see it succeed.

- In a typical board election 300-400 people vote. Over 1,300 member-owners have already signed our petition. We're not a "small group of people" and this movement has energized member-owners to get involved at a rate far higher than in recent memory. If you think that member-owner engagement is key to a healthy co-op community, then this speaks well for the future of our Co-op.

- Take Back the Co-op believes that major decisions, such as opening or closing a store, should go to a vote by the member-owners. And in order to make an informed decision, we must have access to financial data and other relevant information.

- The most disappointing aspect of the recent responses by the board, the GM, and others is the lack of substance. There is no comment on the substantial decline in net income, the four charges of retaliation against workers (confirmed by the NLRB), the high salaries and bonuses of the GM and the managers he brought in (during our worst financial performance in over a decade), or the culture of fear and intimidation reported by scores of workers.

And there is no mention of the success of the co-op in Albany, NY. They held a Special Membership Meeting last year, took back their board, fired CDS Consulting, and turned things around in terms of finances, transparency, food quality, and engagement with member-owners.

- Why is so much misinformation coming out right now? Because they're scared. As member-owners we have a right to take back our Co-op. They're trying to intimidate us into not acting, but our Co-op community is stronger than that.

September 17, 2016A new FAQ to address the GM's response:

15. What do you make of the GM's response to Take Back the Co-op?The GM is very skilled at distracting and diverting people. Notice all the things he doesn't address:

Profit. He goes on at length about revenue but doesn't mention profit. As one worker put it: "If the Co-op's goal is simply to increase revenue, while losing profits, anyone could have done that before." That seems to be exactly what is happening.

The high salaries and bonuses paid to him and the people he brought in from out-of-state to fill management positions. All while our Co-op is experiencing the worst financial loss in over a decade.

The NLRB finding that our Co-op had retaliated against unionized workers on four different charges.

The culture of fear and intimidation and how workers are currently treated.

The loss of valued workers with decades of experience.

Severing ties with Veritable Vegetable in favor of getting produce from a trucking company with whom the GM has personal ties.

The more than a dozen co-ops around the country who have already contacted us to report that they are experiencing the same problems: serious financial losses, an unresponsive board, workers being treated poorly, a serious drop in food quality, and a GM given too much power and abusing it. And each of these co-ops are being advised by CDS Consulting.

The co-op in Albany, NY (Honest Weight), who successfully held a Special Membership Meeting, reclaimed their board, and got their co-op operating profitably again in less than a year.

September 17, 2016Two new FAQs about who we are and the Westside store: 13. Is it true that Take Back the Co-op is a small group of outsiders from Santa Fe? Do they want to close all the Albuquerque stores and the distribution center and fire everyone?We've heard variations on this question recently (apparently this is what the GM has been telling workers).

In short, the answer is no.

- Please look at our endorsed candidates for the board. Five of them are from Albuquerque, two are from Santa Fe. One of them is a lifetime member of La Montañita who was a member of the original Osha co-op in the 70s. Two of them used to work in the stores in Albuquerque.

- We had a planning session earlier this week for our weekend events. A majority of the participants were from Albuquerque and most of our events this weekend are in Albuquerque.

- We have over 1,200 signatures at the moment and a majority of them are from people who live in Albuquerque, with a good number from Santa Fe and other cities in NM too.

- We've never discussed closing the distribution center and honestly don't know where that came from. The distribution center has to be evaluated in terms of its financial performance, like any other part of our La Montañita system, but it also has significant value to the greater New Mexico community.

We believe the most serious threat to La Montañita jobs is allowing the current leadership at our Co-op to continue. We averaged profits of $649K a year from 2008-2013. In 2014, that dropped to $231K, last year it went down to $142K, and we're hearing that this year we may have a loss of $100K or more. We have to step in now before it gets any worse.

Also, we notice that the GM continues to use divisiveness. He's trying to pit workers against member-owners, Albuquerque against Santa Fe, and one store against another. These are the same tactics that workers reported in "Inside the Co-op."

14. Are you planning to close the Westside store?If you look at our petition, which sets the agenda for the Special Membership Meeting, you'll see that closing the Westside store isn't one of the proposals. We feel that until we deal with the leadership problems at our Co-op and fire CDS Consulting, it's impossible to have an honest conversation about the Westside store.

Depending on how members vote at the Special Membership Meeting, we will carry out the proposals that pass and then we plan to look at the Westside store and share that information openly with member-owners and workers.

One of the core parts of our platform is Transparency and Democratic Member Control. The two go hand-in-hand. Member-owners have to be better informed about their business in order to be able to make good decisions. We think that major decisions should go to the membership for a democratic vote and closing or opening a store certainly qualifies as major.